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Wain: LGBT reimaginings of Scottish folktales
Wain is a collection of LGBT themed children's poetry based on retellings of Scottish myths. The collection contains stories about kelpies, selkies, and the Loch Ness Monster, alongside perhaps lesser-known mythical people and creatures, such as wulvers, Ghillie Dhu, and the Cat Sìth. These poems immerse readers in an enriching, diverse and enchanting vision of contemporary life. The poems in this collection are fun, surprising, and full of a magical mix of myth and contemporary LGBT themes – it is a perfect read for children who are learning more about themselves, other people, and the world around them. Wain is fully illustrated, and suitable for readers of all ages
-https://theemmapress.glopal.com/en-US...
-https://theemmapress.glopal.com/en-US...
80 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
October 18, 2019
FYI Nessie the sea monster is queer, it's official, it's canon, I accept nothing else.
June 26, 2021
such a lovely queer poetry collection! I love that there's a glossary of Scottish folklore at the back, it makes it so easy to know exactly what each poem refers to!
February 28, 2019
Full disclosure: I'm the editor of this. But also it's amazing and everybody should read it.
March 10, 2023
The diversity from queers to feminism, gosh, I love it. My favourite was Selkie! Selkie’s trans and bi no doubt LOL ;P I loved only a few for me to give this higher. But the writing was a beaut.
The girl-seal with a secret boy inside. Rough-voiced. Black-eyed.
This is the Queen who married the girl with a crown of gold and a ring of pearl at the world’s end.
They called me a girl cos I helped round the house. That’s just how these human folk think.
We shy from the surface’s glare in love with our new-old beautiful selves, needing nobody’s approval.
Under the weight of the water, under the shadow of the hills Nessie has always existed. Not a boy or a girl. But real.
Ze comes between the houses like ze used to come between the hills.
The girl-seal with a secret boy inside. Rough-voiced. Black-eyed.
This is the Queen who married the girl with a crown of gold and a ring of pearl at the world’s end.
They called me a girl cos I helped round the house. That’s just how these human folk think.
We shy from the surface’s glare in love with our new-old beautiful selves, needing nobody’s approval.
Under the weight of the water, under the shadow of the hills Nessie has always existed. Not a boy or a girl. But real.
Ze comes between the houses like ze used to come between the hills.
October 13, 2019
Poems of folklore woven through with queer characters of all types, this is the kind of subtle magic that I love.
February 23, 2021
As a queer parent, Plummer was disappointed by the lack of representation for families like theirs in her daughter’s beloved fairy tales. Thus, the idea for Wain was born: a collection of poems that reimagine the traditional folktales of Scotland from the perspective of LGBT+ characters.
I was so pleased to see how inclusive of the queer community this collection actually is. Many books that claim to be proud “LGBT” reads represent one or two of those letters at best. In Wain, Plummer presents us with characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary, as well as those who don’t ascribe to any clear category, and all in a sensitive, normalized way that avoids the need for labels.
Deliberately written to be engaging for teens, the poems are highly accessible from a linguistic, structural, and rhythmic perspective. While this means they rarely wowed me as an adult reader, they were still well crafted and charming. On the whole, I adored the collection for its narrative content and thematic intention.
My favourite individual piece was Green Lady. Inspired by the stories of green-hued ghosts that are said to haunt Scottish castles and manor homes as a mark of familial secrets, Plummer reimagines one such ghost as a trans woman, utilising evocative colour-based imagery, with subtle, tragic implications adding real pathos and power to the poem’s deeper meaning.
Helene Boppert (who is also openly queer) provides stunning watercolour illustrations that make the book truly sing. Suitably otherworldly and ethereal in honour of the stories’ fantastical undertones, it’s likely no coincidence that she employs a vivid rainbow spectrum of colour throughout her chosen palette.
Representation is so important. It’s wonderful that this book exists, brought to life by two own-voice queer creatives, so that LGBT+ teens, adults, and families can see themselves reflected in the kind of stories we’re all brought up on, but which so often fail to acknowledge them.
I was so pleased to see how inclusive of the queer community this collection actually is. Many books that claim to be proud “LGBT” reads represent one or two of those letters at best. In Wain, Plummer presents us with characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary, as well as those who don’t ascribe to any clear category, and all in a sensitive, normalized way that avoids the need for labels.
Deliberately written to be engaging for teens, the poems are highly accessible from a linguistic, structural, and rhythmic perspective. While this means they rarely wowed me as an adult reader, they were still well crafted and charming. On the whole, I adored the collection for its narrative content and thematic intention.
My favourite individual piece was Green Lady. Inspired by the stories of green-hued ghosts that are said to haunt Scottish castles and manor homes as a mark of familial secrets, Plummer reimagines one such ghost as a trans woman, utilising evocative colour-based imagery, with subtle, tragic implications adding real pathos and power to the poem’s deeper meaning.
Helene Boppert (who is also openly queer) provides stunning watercolour illustrations that make the book truly sing. Suitably otherworldly and ethereal in honour of the stories’ fantastical undertones, it’s likely no coincidence that she employs a vivid rainbow spectrum of colour throughout her chosen palette.
Representation is so important. It’s wonderful that this book exists, brought to life by two own-voice queer creatives, so that LGBT+ teens, adults, and families can see themselves reflected in the kind of stories we’re all brought up on, but which so often fail to acknowledge them.
December 15, 2020
Beautiful as a concept and in execution.
July 23, 2021
It took rereading and rereading again for me to properly absorb, understand, and love these poems (poetry is usually not my jam) based on Scottish folklore, of which I knew of very sparsely, with LGBTQ twists.
The trans and nonbinary communities are showcased on a phenomenal, revolutionary and beloved level in this volatile collection. Gods, spirits and fairies put very little stock on trivial things like gender, so why should we?
The lush, opulent watercolour art helps to compliment the rep as well.
My favourites are 'Kelpie', 'Glaistig', 'The Wulver's Daughter', 'Nicnevin, Queen of the Fairies', 'The Well at the World's End', 'Ghillie Dhu', 'Finfolkaheem', 'Finman', 'The Bridge of One Hair', 'Green Lady', 'Johnny O'Braidislea', 'Stoor Worm', and 'Mairead'.
I love fairy tales, warrior women, princesses, and wolf girls. Who doesn't?
From the blurb:
A boy selkie who takes girlness off like a sealskin, an untameable kelpie, the warrior-wife of a princess, and a Loch Ness monster who is too busy having fun to worry about words like "girl" or "boy". This is the way the world is - with just a bit of Scottish myth and magic thrown in.
What a beautiful world that sounds like.
'Wain: LBGT Reimaginings of Scottish Folklore' - a breath of fresh sea air, a rarity, an extraordinary trinket, an imaginarium brought seamlessly and effortlessly to life, an eye-opening gift to such a diverse world as ours.
Final Score: 3.5/5
The trans and nonbinary communities are showcased on a phenomenal, revolutionary and beloved level in this volatile collection. Gods, spirits and fairies put very little stock on trivial things like gender, so why should we?
The lush, opulent watercolour art helps to compliment the rep as well.
My favourites are 'Kelpie', 'Glaistig', 'The Wulver's Daughter', 'Nicnevin, Queen of the Fairies', 'The Well at the World's End', 'Ghillie Dhu', 'Finfolkaheem', 'Finman', 'The Bridge of One Hair', 'Green Lady', 'Johnny O'Braidislea', 'Stoor Worm', and 'Mairead'.
I love fairy tales, warrior women, princesses, and wolf girls. Who doesn't?
From the blurb:
A boy selkie who takes girlness off like a sealskin, an untameable kelpie, the warrior-wife of a princess, and a Loch Ness monster who is too busy having fun to worry about words like "girl" or "boy". This is the way the world is - with just a bit of Scottish myth and magic thrown in.
What a beautiful world that sounds like.
'Wain: LBGT Reimaginings of Scottish Folklore' - a breath of fresh sea air, a rarity, an extraordinary trinket, an imaginarium brought seamlessly and effortlessly to life, an eye-opening gift to such a diverse world as ours.
Final Score: 3.5/5
December 29, 2019
This is such a beautiful, beautiful book - I almost feel guilt for not loving the poems as much as I had thought I would, though it's worth remembering they are written for a younger audience. Still there are some lovely poems in the collection, and the book as a whole is so gorgeous it's a definite one to own.
January 30, 2020
oh my god,,,, i absolutely LOVED this, the poems and the illustrations are so good and i am now so curious about all these folktales because i'm not familiar with any of them, sadly. anyways, i loved this!
March 17, 2019
I am hopelessly in love with this book. What's not to love about old Scottish tales and legends re-told in beautiful poetry, re-imagined with all kinds of LGBT+ representation, and presented in a volume full of gorgeous, colorful illustrations? As a storyteller, I could see from every poem how intimately the poet knows the traditional stories, and how carefully she treats them and retells them in a way that they say something to young people in our age, but still retain their magic and their symbolism. Each poem is more beautiful than the other, and several of them made me laugh out or shed some tears. The illustrations are equally detailed and full of meaning, and often they add a lot to the words. The book is enchanting, and I keep going back to re-read it over and over.
This is what living a tradition looks like. This is what storytelling serving our children looks like. This is what representation looks like.
This is what living a tradition looks like. This is what storytelling serving our children looks like. This is what representation looks like.
September 14, 2019
Breathtaking illustrations and very admirable premise. Several of the poems are quite good but overall I did not find the poetry to be particularly great. The stories, imagery and illustrations, however, are really really good.
May 9, 2021
I loved this collection *so much*, perfect blend of subversive magic and folklore and queerness. Can't wait to share these with my wee boy when he's a bit older.
November 30, 2025
As a straight girl, I felt the urge to read something unique and different from what I usually read. So, I chose this book titled "Wain : LGBT reimaginings of Scottish folktales". This book was a collection of many mythological poems blended with LGBTQ themes. Scottish folktales are part of Celtic mythology.
I found some poems to be impressive while others were just okay.
To be honest, I have never read Scottish folktales in my life and it felt great to be introduced to several mythological characters from Scotland like Selkie , Kelpie, Glaistig, Ghillie Dhu, Wulver, Cat Sith , Loch ness Monster , Blue Men of the Minch, Beithir, Stoor Worm etc.
✔️What was my favourite poem in this book ?
The first poem of this book - "Selkie" turned out to be my favourite in this book.
I was like , 'Oh my God, this was so beautiful, creative and imaginative. ' It gave emphasis on gender dysphoria .
I found some poems to be impressive while others were just okay.
To be honest, I have never read Scottish folktales in my life and it felt great to be introduced to several mythological characters from Scotland like Selkie , Kelpie, Glaistig, Ghillie Dhu, Wulver, Cat Sith , Loch ness Monster , Blue Men of the Minch, Beithir, Stoor Worm etc.
✔️What was my favourite poem in this book ?
The first poem of this book - "Selkie" turned out to be my favourite in this book.
I was like , 'Oh my God, this was so beautiful, creative and imaginative. ' It gave emphasis on gender dysphoria .
July 24, 2025
This was such a great collection. It was so nice, so lyrical. It had so many hopeful moments. As a beginner folklorist, it was also a great way to introduce myself to some celtic/scottish mythology and concepts.
Plummer's voice is so musically confident. These poems read especially well aloud. All ages can find pleasure in these poems. There's something so beautiful about being able to read the happy, hopeful existence of queer characters.
Here are my favorite stories in order of appearance:
No Man
Glaistig
Blue Men of the Minch
Finmen
Nessie
Nessa's Song
Cat Sìth
Green Lady
Mairead
Plummer's voice is so musically confident. These poems read especially well aloud. All ages can find pleasure in these poems. There's something so beautiful about being able to read the happy, hopeful existence of queer characters.
Here are my favorite stories in order of appearance:
No Man
Glaistig
Blue Men of the Minch
Finmen
Nessie
Nessa's Song
Cat Sìth
Green Lady
Mairead
February 2, 2022
2.5 🌟
Love the illustrations and concept of this
Love the illustrations and concept of this
December 11, 2022
A wonderful collection of poetry that reimagines Scottish folklore through a queer lens.
Apologies to Riley for taking so long to read this after you brought it back from Scotland, I really regret not reading it sooner!
Apologies to Riley for taking so long to read this after you brought it back from Scotland, I really regret not reading it sooner!
June 25, 2020
5/5
Amazing!! Amazing!! Amazing!! My gosh, I love everything about this. The words and the art are just magnificent. It takes me to another world.
I need to read more Scottish folklore and authors to really get in touch with my heritage.
Each poems rating:
Selkie: 5/5 wow, so short but so powerful, I can relate so much!
The Seven Big Women of Jura: 5/5 I don’t really understand it but it was delightful, I imagine reading that to a child and it being the funniest.
No Man: 5/5 oh so beautiful I want to cry!
Kelpie: 4/5 I’m confused but it’s powerful.
Glaistig: 4/5 again, confused but it was sweet. Never heard of a glaistig before either.
Love Song for a Wulver: 5/5 I’m biased here, I ADORE wolffish stories, and this was queer half-wolf courting and mating - it’s my kryptonite.
The Wulvers’ Daughter: 5/5 again the wolf bias but this was very sweet.
Nicnevin, Queen of the Fairies: 5/5 beautiful, love a fairy queen with dark skin.
Blue Men of the Minch: 4/5 oh so sweetly sad.
February: 4/5 I want to know all about Beira now. Another beautifully sad story.
The story of snow: 4/5 entrancing.
Nimblemen: 5/5 I could not stop imagining a hoard of drag queens with bouncy red curls and green lipstick, wielding heavy swords and dancing across the battle field slaying their enemies while looking fierce!
Beira: 5/5 short and powerful.
The well at the world’s end: 4/5 that went dark then super cute!
Brownie: 3/5 peppy and charming.
Changeling: 4/5 hauntingly beautiful.
Changeling 2: 5/5 I prefer the poetry in this one compared to other Changeling.
Ghillie Dhu: 4/5 so beautiful, and I love that the Ghillie Dhu wasn’t the bad guy here.
Finfolkaheem: 4/5 BISEXUAL FINFOLK! Beautiful, I am now obsessed with the term ‘finfolk’.
Finman: 5/5 oh I love the rebellious nature of this.
Nessie: 5/5 OMG MY FAVE! Non-binary Loch Ness Monster, so beautiful.
Nessa’s Song: 4/5 melancholy love, so beautiful.
Cat Sith: 4/5 okay another new favourite term ‘purr-shivery’. I was ready to be ‘eh’ about this one but that ending really hit me, I was nearly in tears. Beautiful.
The bridge of one hair: 3.5/5 I don’t understand but it’s beautiful.
Crumple toes and shamble shanks: 5/5 so so sweet.
The deaf river: 5/5 wow that was beautiful.
Beithir: 4/5 confusing but great.
Bride, goddess of spring: 3/5 kind of eh
Green Lady: 4/5 oh the beautiful pain.
Johnny O’Braidislea: 3/5 very sweet, I love loyal wolf-dogs.
Gentle Annie: 3/5 ze/hir pronouns!!
Stoor Worm: 4/5 I’d love to see this as a movie!!
Mairead: 5/5 wow wow wow wow. Now I love dragons and am generally not a fan of them being slain, but wow that was an awesome tale!! One of my faves, great way to end the collection.
Amazing!! Amazing!! Amazing!! My gosh, I love everything about this. The words and the art are just magnificent. It takes me to another world.
I need to read more Scottish folklore and authors to really get in touch with my heritage.
Each poems rating:
Selkie: 5/5 wow, so short but so powerful, I can relate so much!
The Seven Big Women of Jura: 5/5 I don’t really understand it but it was delightful, I imagine reading that to a child and it being the funniest.
No Man: 5/5 oh so beautiful I want to cry!
Kelpie: 4/5 I’m confused but it’s powerful.
Glaistig: 4/5 again, confused but it was sweet. Never heard of a glaistig before either.
Love Song for a Wulver: 5/5 I’m biased here, I ADORE wolffish stories, and this was queer half-wolf courting and mating - it’s my kryptonite.
The Wulvers’ Daughter: 5/5 again the wolf bias but this was very sweet.
Nicnevin, Queen of the Fairies: 5/5 beautiful, love a fairy queen with dark skin.
Blue Men of the Minch: 4/5 oh so sweetly sad.
February: 4/5 I want to know all about Beira now. Another beautifully sad story.
The story of snow: 4/5 entrancing.
Nimblemen: 5/5 I could not stop imagining a hoard of drag queens with bouncy red curls and green lipstick, wielding heavy swords and dancing across the battle field slaying their enemies while looking fierce!
Beira: 5/5 short and powerful.
The well at the world’s end: 4/5 that went dark then super cute!
Brownie: 3/5 peppy and charming.
Changeling: 4/5 hauntingly beautiful.
Changeling 2: 5/5 I prefer the poetry in this one compared to other Changeling.
Ghillie Dhu: 4/5 so beautiful, and I love that the Ghillie Dhu wasn’t the bad guy here.
Finfolkaheem: 4/5 BISEXUAL FINFOLK! Beautiful, I am now obsessed with the term ‘finfolk’.
Finman: 5/5 oh I love the rebellious nature of this.
Nessie: 5/5 OMG MY FAVE! Non-binary Loch Ness Monster, so beautiful.
Nessa’s Song: 4/5 melancholy love, so beautiful.
Cat Sith: 4/5 okay another new favourite term ‘purr-shivery’. I was ready to be ‘eh’ about this one but that ending really hit me, I was nearly in tears. Beautiful.
The bridge of one hair: 3.5/5 I don’t understand but it’s beautiful.
Crumple toes and shamble shanks: 5/5 so so sweet.
The deaf river: 5/5 wow that was beautiful.
Beithir: 4/5 confusing but great.
Bride, goddess of spring: 3/5 kind of eh
Green Lady: 4/5 oh the beautiful pain.
Johnny O’Braidislea: 3/5 very sweet, I love loyal wolf-dogs.
Gentle Annie: 3/5 ze/hir pronouns!!
Stoor Worm: 4/5 I’d love to see this as a movie!!
Mairead: 5/5 wow wow wow wow. Now I love dragons and am generally not a fan of them being slain, but wow that was an awesome tale!! One of my faves, great way to end the collection.
April 20, 2019
4.25/5 🌟 such a beautiful collection. 💓 Thank you so much to the publishers for sending me a review copy. The poems and illustrations are just gorgeous. Honestly so happy to have this collection.I really enjoyed learning about all the Scottish folk tales and I loved the diversity of this book. I would definitely recommend this book to others.
July 11, 2025
Queering folklore is becoming more and more popular (which is great). Wain is a collection of poems reimagining Scottish folklore as including LGBTQIA+ characters among the old gods, spirits and other mythic figures.
Some were great, some didn't quite touch me but overall I would recommend the collection. One star up for the illustrations, these are marvellous.
Some were great, some didn't quite touch me but overall I would recommend the collection. One star up for the illustrations, these are marvellous.
August 13, 2023
3.5 ⭐ rounded up. This is a nice short collection of poetry with equally nice illustrations.
September 12, 2024
A beautifully written, and even more beautifully illustrated, poetry anthology filled with engaging and creative re-imaginings of scottish stories and folklore. Well worth a read!
January 13, 2025
Enjoyable collection with beautiful illustrations.
July 12, 2025
"You don't need to believe in Nessie./ Your belief doesn't change who Nessie is./ [...] / Not a boy or a girl. But real."
October 18, 2022
Loved this! What an absolute delight to read.
October 18, 2025
Beautiful reimaginings, really got my folky brain thrumming for tunes for some of them too
March 15, 2019
I first heard about poet Rachel Plummer's new collection of LGBT-themed reimaginings of Scottish folklore, Wain, last autumn, when the anti-trans brigade on social media started whipping up a frenzy of protest about the first poem published on Twitter as a teaser, 'Selkie', which uses the idea of the skin-changing selkie to explore transness, removing one skin to reveal the hidden self inside. I loved the poem, and when the publishers set up a scheme to allow people to buy a copy for themselves and a second, discounted copy to donate to a school, I took advantage of it to pre-order the book.
My copy arrived last week. It's a beautiful book, with gorgeous illustrations by Helene Boppert, and the poems are delightful and magical, perfectly balancing a contemporary sensibility and approach to gender and sexuality with a deep familiarity with the original stories, using language carefully and deliberately to create something beautiful and thought-provoking. My favourites were 'No Man', the story of an encounter between a trans woman and a kelpie who recognises the woman inside her; 'Nessie', about the Loch Ness monster who has always existed outside the gender binary; 'Green Lady', full of colours; 'Mairead', about a princess who defies expectations to kill her own dragon; and most of all 'Finfolkaheem', about a woman falling in love with a mermaid and leaving behind the things she once knew as certainties. The last two stanzas are beautiful, and so evocative of the way aging makes the things we once took for granted appear very different:
The poems are aimed at older children and teenagers, but I think will have something to say to people of any age.
My copy arrived last week. It's a beautiful book, with gorgeous illustrations by Helene Boppert, and the poems are delightful and magical, perfectly balancing a contemporary sensibility and approach to gender and sexuality with a deep familiarity with the original stories, using language carefully and deliberately to create something beautiful and thought-provoking. My favourites were 'No Man', the story of an encounter between a trans woman and a kelpie who recognises the woman inside her; 'Nessie', about the Loch Ness monster who has always existed outside the gender binary; 'Green Lady', full of colours; 'Mairead', about a princess who defies expectations to kill her own dragon; and most of all 'Finfolkaheem', about a woman falling in love with a mermaid and leaving behind the things she once knew as certainties. The last two stanzas are beautiful, and so evocative of the way aging makes the things we once took for granted appear very different:
Once I loved a human boy
and loved the land he walked on -
his two feet, his strong legs,
the hill that was our home.
But time came like a tide;
eroding life's bedrock
and flooding me with the possibility
of mermaids.
The poems are aimed at older children and teenagers, but I think will have something to say to people of any age.
April 19, 2021
This book came recommended to me by a friend, and I'm so glad I checked it out! Though I will say, reading it on Kindle does diminish the experience, as you don't get to really enjoy the gorgeous artwork that accompanies the poems and stories.
It still amazes me every time when I read something LGBTQ+ oriented... when I was growing up, things like this would have been absolutely amazing to see and read, so I wouldn't feel so alone. I'm so happy there's finally some absolutely awesome representations out there now, and this book ranks among the top!
It still amazes me every time when I read something LGBTQ+ oriented... when I was growing up, things like this would have been absolutely amazing to see and read, so I wouldn't feel so alone. I'm so happy there's finally some absolutely awesome representations out there now, and this book ranks among the top!
August 27, 2021
This book is a beautiful object, gorgeously produced and illustrated, which only does justice to the beautiful poems within. On this first reading I've mostly let the words and rhythms and images wash over me, but I will return to it and dive deeper into the stories being told here, of mermaids and monsters and fairies, of lesbians and trans folk and comfortable queer pairings, of love and mystery and magic.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews